Task 5 - distribution of magazines

 Magazine's have multiple methods by which they distribute and increase exposure of their magazines. For this task I will be analysing the methods of distribution used by 'Kerrang!', 'XXL' and 'Q' magazine.

'KERRANG!' magazine
By analysing the official website of 'KERRANG!' we can see begin to see the methods which they use so that they can distribute the information of their magazine. in this section alone we can see the involvement of:

• social media sites (Facebook and Twitter in particular)
• TV content
• Radio content
• Mobile phone app
• Ezine (online magazine)

The involvement of Facebook and Twitter as the  largest social media platforms plays a major role in the distribution and awareness of the magazine.The social media sites allow people of all ages (especially the target audience) to be aware of the latest information KERRANG has to offer, upcoming features and artists are usually discussed in social media, making the exposure of the newspaper even larger than before.


Social media sites are primarily known for how efficiently content can be shared between users. Kerrang can easily reach the attention of somebody who is a fan of rock music. Even someone who isn't interested at all in the genres the magazine has to offer can easily be exposed to the content, this can result in the variety of the audience who are purchasing  or subscribing to the magazine to become wider, resulting in an increase in revenue.

Kerrang also has successful mobile phone apps for both their magazine and also their radio station. This allows their main audience to access the content they would like to consume as easily as possible, which also can lead to a potential increase in awareness of the magazine through aspects like a share button

Kerrang also produces an electronic version of their magazine (also known as an e-zine) from this you can probably tell that the magazine can be read on a mobile, tablet or laptop device, this is the case because technological advancements have allowed for us to be able to use such devices for purposes that were not possible beforehand, such as reading a magazine or newspaper online, it is the lack of attention towards paper copies and the increased focus of the electronic versions of magazines have resulted in this shift of platform. It is something which has also benefited the magazine publishers themselves, financial costs for ink and the huge amount of paper used for conventional magazines is saved for other more relevant purposes.       

XXL has an iphone app for people who want more than just the magazine, the app has sections for News, Music, Videos and a Newsletter. This allows members of the audience to interact not only with XXL as an organisation, but with people who they share a similar interest with

XXL website: XXL has its very own website covering the content that can be found in the magazine, it also introduces features similar to the app for instance News, Music and videos can be found on both platforms. Having these sections on both an application and a website increases the likelihood of the content being consumed by the audience, this can theoretically correlate to an increase in revenue. 

facebook and Twitter

facebook and twitter pages are very powerful tools for distributing content. The content is shared by  the audience themselves and it allows for members outside the target audience to be exposed to XXL as a music related magazine.